1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guidance apparatus related to an operation of information equipment, and a guidance method related to the operation of the information equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
At the present, information equipment such as a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and a mobile phone (cell phone) is utilized in broad applications. A user of the information equipment might get confused with a usage method of the information equipment because of having broad usage modes. Further, it happens that the user of the information equipment is unable to solve a variety of unexpected abnormalities (troubles) of the information equipment. At the present, on the PC categorized as one of the information equipment, a Web content for supporting the PC is provided on the Internet in order to present a PC usage method and to solve the abnormality. Then, the user can scheme to solve (troubleshoot) the problem (trouble) by utilizing the guidance based on the Web content for the PC support. The Web content for the PC support has, however, a tremendous data size because of the broad usage modes of the PC. Therefore, the Web content for the PC support in the related arts involves utilizing display of a list of PC usage methods, a list of abnormality solutions and a search by a keyword based on PC-related terminology in order for the user to readily search for a target content. Moreover, such a technology is also employed that lists of contents (usage methods, solutions, etc) sorted out according to categories are displayed on the occasion of displaying those lists.
Considered is such a case that the user having none of the knowledge of the terminology of the PC utilizes the guidance, based on the Web content for the PC support in the related art, for the PC usage method and for solving the abnormality of the PC. Examples of this case will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13.
FIG. 12 shows a first example of utilizing the Web content for the PC support in the related art. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a case where the PC of the user accesses (links to) the Web content for the PC support in the related art. FIG. 12 illustrates, by way of the example, a case where the user checks a cause by which the abnormality (failure; trouble) occurs in the operation of the PC and tries to solve the abnormality. FIG. 12 shows a state in which the PC of the user accesses “Website” of the Web content for the PC support. Then, in FIG. 12, a list of troubles is displayed under a string of characters such as “<Get troubleshooting here!>”.
In the case of the user having the knowledge about the PC's terminology, as shown in FIG. 12, the user understands the PC's technical terms such as “startup”, “unstable operation”, “screen” and so on. Then, the user selects a proper content corresponding to each of the numbers of 2 through 6 shown in FIG. 12, whereby a target Web content (content) can be displayed on the screen of the PC employed by the user.
In the case of the user having none of the knowledge about the PC's terminology, however, as shown in FIG. 12, the user does not understand the PC's technical terms such as “startup”, “unstable operation”, “screen” and so on. Accordingly, the user is unable to select the proper content corresponding to each of the numbers of 2 through 6 shown in FIG. 12. Hence, the user gets into such a state that the user can not judge which content meets the user's own object. Thus, the user can not solve even the problem (trouble) which can be solved by this Web content if the user has the knowledge about the PC's terminology. Therefore, it follows that the user gives up the self-solution and utilizes telephone support and so forth.
Considered further is a case of utilizing a technology, as the related art, of using the display of a list of support contents sorted out according to categories on the occasion of displaying the list of the support content. In this case also, the user having none of the knowledge about the PC's terminology does not understand the category to which a necessary item of information belongs. Hence, as shown in FIG. 12, it is considered that the user is unable to solve the problem by himself or herself.
FIG. 13 shows a second example of utilizing the Web content for the PC support in the related art. A difference from FIG. 12 lies in a point that the user can access the information by a keyword search. To be specific, FIG. 13 shows that a string of characters such as “Please do search by inputting keyword. Introduce solutions.” is displayed under a string of characters such as “<Get troubleshooting here!>”. Further, FIG. 13 shows a Web content (keyword search) set so that the user inputs a term of the PC under the string of characters and presses a “search” button. The user presses the button, whereby the server extracts a target Web content by use of a search DB (Database) linking to the server. Then, the server displays the target Web content on the screen of the PC employed by the user.
In the case of the user having the knowledge about the PC's terminology, as shown in FIG. 13, the user understands a proper PC's technical term related to a solution of the problem which the user has. Accordingly, the user searches for a proper technical term of the PC by the keyword search, whereby the target Web content can be displayed on the screen of the PC employed by the user.
In the case of the user having none of the knowledge about the PC's terminology, however, as shown in FIG. 13, the user does not understand the proper PC's technical term related to the solution of the problem which the user has. Hence, the user does not hit on any should-be-inputted technical term of the PC and gets into an unable-to-search state. Accordingly, the user can not solve even the problem that can be solved by utilizing the Web content for the PC support. Hence, the user gives up the self-solution and utilizes telephone support and so forth.
As exemplified so far with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13, the problem is that the user having none of the knowledge about the PC's terminology can not utilize the service for providing the Web content for the PC support in the related art, such as utilizing the PC usage method, displaying the list of the abnormalities of the PC and the keyword search using the technical terms of the PC.
The followings are related arts to the present invention.    [Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-185389    [Patent document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-310515